Sunday, June 30, 2013

This is the scene shortly after entering Cedar Bog via its fabled boardwalk. Most of the plant species in this shot are, if not downright rare, uncommon at best. Cedar Bog is a treasure trove of rarities; a botanical paradise quite unlike any other habitat in Ohio.

I'm giving a presentation on the rare plants of Cedar Bog on Saturday, July 13 at 10 am in their fabulous new visitor's center. It costs a whopping $6.00 ($5.00) if you are a member of the Cedar Bog Association (and you should be!). Proceeds go to benefit the bog and its management, of course. All of the details ARE HERE. I've been visiting and studying the place for years, and will share photos of Cedar Bog's habitats and botanical denizens, as well as the story of its existence and why this habitat and its plants are so rare now, at least in Ohio. Perhaps best of all, following the talk we'll have lunch, then head out the back door and onto the boardwalk to see scores of interesting plants (and animals) in real time.

I was at the bog yesterday morning, and spent some quality time ferreting out interesting flora with Cedar Bog's new manager, Tracy Bleim, and current Cedar Bog Association board vice-president Cheryl Erwin. Following is just a snippet of the cool stuff that we saw on our foray.

A conspicuous beauty - and one you'll see if you make the July 13th gig - is the rare Fen Indian-plantain, Arnoglossum plantagineum. It's having an especially good year and one might not think it rare if Cedar Bog was their only exposure to this plant. But it's only known from a handful of other sites in Ohio.

Grass-pink orchid, Calopogon tuberosus, which is also in profusion at Cedar Bog this year. It is one of ten species of orchids here - 22% of Ohio's total orchid flora. Not bad for a 427-acre wetland!

Cedar Bog is not really a bog - we'll learn more about wetland terminology on the 13th - but is a fen. And fens are dominated by sedges, some of which are showy and quite interesting. This is Twig-rush, Cladium mariscoides, which is rare in Ohio, but not at Cedar Bog. Its only close relative in the eastern U.S. is the saw-grass of the Florida Everglades.

A beautiful flower to be sure, but don't eat it! This is the "Death Camas", or Wand Lily, Zigadenus elegans, and it is toxic.

One of my target plants was one of Ohio's great botanical rarities, and a species I probably hadn't seen for a decade or more. We were a bit past its flowering time, but I found that the fruit, with their long feathery bristles, looked quite fine. This is a state-endangered plant, the Prairie Valerian, Valeriana ciliata, and it is only known from one other locale in Ohio. This is arguably Cedar Bog's most significant plant. In 1838, botanist John Samples discovered Prairie Valerian at Cedar Bog, and it was described to science from his specimen.

Of course, tremendous plant diversity spawns animal diversity, and one cannot stroll Cedar Bog's boardwalk without encountering interesting animal life. This nymph katydid had the temerity to snack on the flowers of Shrubby Cinquefoil, Dasiphora fruticosa, which is a fairly rare plant in its own right.

We were pleased to see several Appalachian Browns, and one of these butterflies cooperated quite nicely for our cameras. There is a lot of butterfly diversity at Cedar Bog, including our largest species, the Giant Swallowtail.

This is the state-endangered Elfin Skimmer, the smallest dragonfly in North America. As always, CLICK THE PIC to see more detail. This is the male, in his chalky-blue finery. Females are just as small, but look totally different. They are wasp mimics, with alternating bands of black and yellowish-white, and even twitch their abdomen like a wasp when at rest. I can about guarantee that we'll see these, and other cool dragonflies on the 13th.

Even the parking lot has its charms. Native plants abound around its edges, and I wandered over to check some blooming Common Milkweeds, Asclepias syriaca. And then spent the next ten minutes capturing images of the charismatic Red Milkweed Beetles, Tetraopes tetraophthalmus, that were inhabiting the plants.

If you've never visited Cedar Bog, I hope that you can make it out on July 13th. And if you have, I hope that you can come again!

No comments:

Follow by Email

Subscribe To

About Me

I am a lifelong Ohioan who has made a study of natural history since the age of eight or so - longer than I can remember! A fascination with birds has grown into an amazement with all of nature, and an insatiable curiosity to learn more. One of my major ambitions is to get more people interested in nature. The more of us who care, the more likely that our natural world will survive.

About the photos, and permission to use

All photographs on these web pages are the exclusive property of Jim McCormac, and are protected under United States and International copyright laws. The photographs may not be copied, reproduced, stored, distributed or manipulated without written permission. All rights are reserved.

If you contact me requesting free photos, the reply may be long in coming :-)

I've been taking photographs for a few decades, but never became fully interested and engaged in photography until 2003. That's when I got my first digital camera. Since then, photography has become a passion and a steadily growing addiction. If you delve back far enough into this blog, you will see photos that were made with a variety of Panasonic point & shoot bridge cameras. Then came a Canon Rebel DSLR, followed by a Nikon D7000. I've since returned to Canon, and use their gear almost exclusively. My camera bodies are a Canon 5D Mark III, which is an awesome full-frame sensor camera, and a Canon 7D Mark II. The latter is a 1.6 crop factor camera, and I use it almost exclusively for birds and distant wildlife.

The lens bag includes the following Canon lenses: 100mm f/2.8L-macro; the sensational but bizarre MP-E 65 mega-macro; a 180mm f/3.5 macro; a 16-35mm f/4L wide-angle; a 50mm f/1.4; a 100-400 f4.5/5.6 II; and a 500mm f/4L II, sometimes used with a 1.4 extender (which makes it a 700mm). I've also got a Tamron 70-200mm and Sigma 24mm Art (great lenses!). I do lots of macro, and my typical flash gear is the Canon Twin-Lite setup. If the gear needs three-legged stabilization, it is mounted on an Induro tripod, attached to an Induro Gimbal head. Finally, I've got a GoPro Hero, which is fully waterproof and can be used for underwater work. Sometimes I even use the camera or video feature on my iPhone 5S smartphone - it's amazing how good phone cameras have become.

Speaking, guiding gigs 2016

NOTE: Click on listed events for details (inmost cases).

January 16, 2016 - Ohio Ornithological Society's annual winter raptor day at the Wilds, Muskingum County, Ohio. Leading field trip.